[Ads-l] Evolution of a Twitter Backronym: Tweet With Integrity To Then Earn Respect

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

A recent tweet pointed to a five-year-old article about the
dissemination of a twitter backronym. The article suggested that the
creator of the backronym was not being given appropriate credit.

Website: askaaronlee
Article: Honey Someone Stole My Tweet!
Date: Uncertain; March 10 2010 is the date on an early comment
http://askaaronlee.com/honey-someone-stole-my-tweet/

The backronym was: Tweet With Integrity To Then Earn Respect

Using Topsy one may attempt to trace the evolution of this backronym.
Below are selected tweets and retweets. This set was selected based on
a small set of simple queries, and it is incomplete, but it does show
some interesting precursors to the bacronym.

One could extract data from Topsy and construct a phylogenetic tree to
represent the evolution of this group of sayings.Maybe this has
already been done for some expressions propagated through twitter?

[Begin tweets]

AKFirecracker ‏@AKFirecracker
To me, Twitter could stand for: Tweet With integrity Topics That
Entertain Readers
0 replies 0 retweets 0 favorites
1:30 AM - 14 Dec 2008

Jesse Newhart ‏@JesseNewhart
RT @AKFirecracker: To me, Twitter could stand for: Tweet With
integrity Topics That Entertain Readers
0 replies 0 retweets 0 favorites
1:31 AM - 14 Dec 2008

AKFirecracker ‏@AKFirecracker
Okay, new definition for me (last time, I swear): Twitter= Tweet With
Integrity Topics That Engage Readers
0 replies 0 retweets 0 favorites
7:44 PM - 16 Dec 2008

ʍìӀɑղɑ ɾվɑղ ‏@rM1L
TWITTER = Tweet With Integrity Then Takes out Ego by Retweeting
    Favorite 1
    ʍìӀɑղɑ ɾվɑղ
3:08 AM - 8 Jul 2009

Jithin K Rajeev ‏@jithinkr
TWITTER = Tweet With Integrity To Then Earn Retweets; ReTweet =
Respect Earned Through Words that Emphasize an Exceptional Tweet
0 replies 0 retweets 0 favorites
3:38 PM - 12 Jul 2009

Andy Allen ‏@Andy_Allen
RT @PianoGeek @rmilana @jason_pollock #TWITTER: Tweet With Integrity
To Then Earn Retweets <- That's a "Backronym" http://bit.ly/13PCxk
0 replies 0 retweets 0 favorites
1:52 AM - 15 Jul 2009

ʍìӀɑղɑ ɾվɑղ ‏@rM1L
TWITTER :Tweet With Integrity To Then Earn Respect
    Retweet 1
    Favorite 1
    ʍìӀɑղɑ ɾվɑղ
8:17 AM - 23 Jan 2010

[End selected tweet data]

Garson

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org